Takis
Takis (Greek Παναγιώτης Βασιλάκης Τάκης; born October 29, 1925 as Panagiotis Vasilakis in Athens, Greece) is a Greek sculptor and kinetic artist who lives and works in Paris, Athens and London. His stage name Takis is a common short form of his name.
Life and work
Takis is a self-taught as an artist. The study he replaced by intensive study trips throughout Europe. In 1946 his first sculptural works were created. From 1953 to 1954 he lived in London. Since 1955 he has lived mainly in Paris.
Takis began to study with archaic art and initially created figurative sculptures. After 1955 he began to deal with kinetic art.
His works are based on magnetism. It's Takis aim is to visualize invisible forces. Many of his works are long antenna-like sculptures. They consist, for example, a thin rod having an electromagnet at the top, the magnetic force generated by vibrating movements. He also examined the effect in other works of the light as a form of electromagnetic energy. He called this work " light signals ".
From the year 1965, he developed the " musical sculptures ". For these objects, sounds are produced by moving needles that vibrate by magnetic forces. This work he expanded since the 1970s Environments: "Musical rooms ".
Takis is known as a sculptor, object artist, installation and performance artist. In 1968 he was invited as a participating artist for documenta 4 in Kassel and also to documenta 6 in 1977.
Literature and sources
- Exhibition catalog for Documenta IV: IV documentation. International Exhibition; Catalogue: Volume 1: ( painting and sculpture ); Volume 2: (graphics / objects ); Kassel 1968
- Busch, Julia M., A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960 's, The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia; Associated University Presses: London, 1974, ISBN 0-87982-007-1
- Catalog for Documenta 6: Volume 1: painting, sculpture / Environment, Performance; Volume 2: Photography, Film, Video; Volume 3: drawings, utopian design, books; Kassel 1977 ISBN 3-920453-00- X
- Kimpel, Harald / stem, Karin: documenta IV International Exhibition 1968 - A photographic reconstruction ( Series of the documenta - Archives); Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-524-9